20 Reasons why Super Metroid is the Best Game Ever.

Super Metroid is one of my favorite games. I remember playing it for the first time at our local Target. It was their demo game. You got 5 minutes to play the game before it reset. I could never make it to the second save station. When I bought it, I played it to death. Even now I will practice speed running or do a no boss run through.

But Super Metroid is an old outdated game - released in 1994. I've had 17 years to play other games. Yet none have surpassed Super Metroid. The care and detail of it's design is just unreal. I want to look at why it's so gosh darn amazing.

So let's return to a time before achievements, before Facebook games, and before the MMO's. To a time of 16 bit gaming and 2-dimensional graphics. Here's a look at Super Metroid and why it is the greatest single player game ever made.

Super Metroid - Reasons #20-16

#20: The Chozo Surprise

Super Metroid sets up expectations then breaks them.

A good example is the first miniboss: The Evil Statue

The set-up:

"Hello I'm a generous Chozo Statue." "Here's some missiles!"

Expectation:

"Hello again!" "Here's some Bombs."

The Surprise:

It's a trap!

Lots of games do this. They set an expectation then break it. Mimic Boxes and Apples which fall up.

What makes this the chozo surprise great is that it plays on a meta-expectation. The standard procedure for most games is "Fight Boss then Get Reward." A good example is Megaman. The game is structured around that idea. "Get Reward then Fight Boss" turns that expectation on it's head.

It also plays on the expectations of Metroid 1 and 2. You have two games telling you "Chozo Statues are your friends." Super Metroid gives you a nostalgic surprise. Super Metroid understands it's gaming context and plays on those conventions.

#19: The Charge Shot

The Charge Beam is the coolest weapon ever designed. That one mechanic - charging your power, has many interactions.

Here's what you can do with it:

Many games will give you a tool or a weapon that does one thing. This blue key opens that blue door. These flippers only let you swim in the water. This sword only does more damage. That's stupid.

Good mechanics are elegant. They do one thing, but in context do many things. Take Jumping from Super Mario. Jumping is simple - Mario moves up, but in context it has many uses. You can land on enemies to kill them and to do super jump. You can land on top of blocks and break them. If you run then go higher.

The Charge Beam, like Jumping, is elegant. It does one thing - Charge your power, but in context does many things.

#18: Soft Locks

With an open world game, designers need someway to guide the player through it. Someway to pace their experience. One of those tools is the Soft Lock.

Here's a bunch of Soft Locks.

A Soft Lock uses the game's physics and mechanics to limit the player. The super hot room is a classic one. You take too much damage to get to the end of it. Without the Varia Suit or Red Tunic you can't progress. A soft lock is basically a subtle and integrated hard lock.

A Hard Lock is a gate with an single arbitrary Key. You need a blue key to open the blue door. You must defeat the dragon and then the king will repair the bridge. There's only one way to progress and it's unrelated to the game's mechanics. Essentially Hard Locks are about status. Which is why I hate them.

A Hard Lock is like a Member's Only sign. You need a member's card to proceed. If they are all over a game, it feels like the Game Designer's breathing down your neck. "Sorry son, you have to play the game my way. (Evil Laugh)" No thanks Sakurai. I think I'll play this other game.

Soft Locks are closer to tests, challenges, puzzles and bosses. They are about performance.

To me they feel almost justified. 'Well of course I can't get there yet, I can't jump high enough. The game just doesn't work that way.'

The other reason I love soft locks is that you can game the game. The player can do some lateral thinking and pick the lock.

Here's a couple ways you can cheat at Super Metroid.

Cheating is awesome.

#17: The Morphing Ball Spy

Before you get the Morphing Ball, the Planet Zebes is lifeless. No enemies, nothing interesting. Once you get the Morphing Ball this happens:

What a cool effect. You've trigger an alarm. Something has happened. Something has changed. But more than just a neat special effect or an unspoken narrative, the Morphing Ball Spy is there to teach the player an underlying truth about Super Metroid. Once you get a new item or ability everything changes.

With the Morphing ball the player can explore the world in a new way. The Morphing ball is like a light you can shine on a dark and empty room. Now those 'meaningless' small passages have meaning. You can get through them. The Morphing ball is more of a viewpoint than it is an ability.

The Spy is like Samus' Uncle Ben. With your new found spider-powers you can light up a dark world. The morphing ball not only changes you, but how you see everything else.

#16: Secret Rewards

Super Metroid is full of secrets. More than just Missiles, and Upgrades it has secret rewards hidden in the game. There's a secret reward in one of my favorite rooms:

The Speed Boosts Lobby

What a beautiful room. Before I talk about the secret reward I want to highlight how well designed this room is.

The bottom half is wonderfully orchestrated. Everything in the bottom half tells you where the secret passage is. The Lava says "Don't go down." (and it foreshadows the upcoming test.) The little jumps tell you to "Stop Running." The green guys tell you "look up" and "Shoot us first."

If you listen to them you will find the passage rather easily. Right when you enter the room if you stop and shoot up at the green guys you will 'magically' open the secret passage.

What a Convenient Secret:

With that out of the way let's look at the top half. It's the part with the secret reward. I don't mean it has secret missiles or energy tanks, the room has no secret items. It's the Red Guys.

For a long time, these guys bothered me - I didn't understand why they are there. They aren't an obstacle to overcome. They don't block the door. They aren't very difficult. If you wanted just an arbitrary enemy, why not use a different enemy? Why use the little red guys? I didn't understand until I started doing speed runs. They're there as a hidden reward for keeping your head cool. There's five of them because they make a nice sound effect.

The next room over is the Speed Boost explanation room. When you get the speed booster, the stage shakes and lava rises. You need to run like hell. You'll run up a long corridor all blue sparked (weird that blue sparks = speed,) At the end you'll crash into the blue door and kill your speed. Hurray, you're safe.

But if you keep your head cool and remember to open the door and keep your speed boost. As such you'll slam into the little red guys. They are your secret reward.

They are your fireworks.

That's reasons #20-16. I'll try to have at least 5 reasons a week. I want to write a lot more about Super Metroid. Especially going over the level design in detail. But I'm going to try and finish this first.

Join me next time for reasons #15-11.